Blair and Chirac show unity

Tony Blair and Jacques Chirac have attempted to paper over their differences over Iraq by agreeing that the crisis must be resolved through the United Nations.

At the end of a wide-ranging Anglo-French summit in Le Touquet, the two leaders insisted they were united around the twin objectives of disarming Saddam Hussein and doing so through the UN.

But President Chirac gave a hint of strong French resistance to military action in the weeks to come by warning that war was "always the worst possible solution".

He and Mr Blair said they would now await the evidence of alleged links between Iraq and al-Qa'eda which Colin Powell, the US secretary of state Colin Powell, will present to the UN tomorrow and the next report by Hans Blix, the UN's chief weapons inspector, on Feb 14.

There had been speculation that the Prime Minister would receive a frosty reception from M Chirac after Mr Blair joined forces with Spain and six other European countries to sign a letter backing the United States' hardline stance on Iraq.

Britain has also expressed its irritation at France's invitation to Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe to a French-African summit later this month.

But M Chirac and Mr Blair did their best to give the impression that the entente cordiale - 100-years-old next year - was still intact.

Mr Blair said it was symbolic that he and the president had held talks beneath a picture of the marriage between French King Louis XII to Henry VIII's daughter Mary in the northern seaside resort's town hall.

At their joint press conference afterwards, however, M Chirac said: "Our approach [on Iraq] is not the same."

M Chirac said Britain and France had "lived side by side" but also "we have fought each other through the years", and said he remained confident that the two countries could "paper over the differences".

But he added: "Of course that cannot be done with a wave of a magic wand overnight."

He said: "First and foremost, we have two convictions which are fundamental and are shared.

"The first is that we have to disarm Iraq and the second conviction that we share is that this has to be undertaken within the Security Council of the United Nations. That is fundamental, and regarding that we are entirely in agreement.

"As for the reality of the situation, the consequences that need to be drawn, we may have differences of opinion, different approaches. Those differences are far less and fewer than they appear."

M Chirac said the most important thing was to "allow the inspectors to continue their work, consider any new information which might emerge", including Mr Powell's evidence and the Valentine's Day report by Dr Blix and his colleague Mohamed ElBaradei.

Beyond that, M Chirac said "everything must be done to give the inspectors the wherewithal that they require".

Mr Blair said: "Of course there are the differences that are familiar to people.

"But it is important to emphasise again the two common points that the President alluded to: support for the notion of disarming Iraq of weapons of mass destruction and the belief that this is best pursued through the United Nations.

Mr Blair dismissed a suggestion that his letter had driven a wedge between Europe and the US. Everyone had agreed to resolution 1441 that Iraq must disarm, he said, adding that the letter had been signed by European leaders.

Asked whether a decision on war should be made in weeks or months, President Chirac said: "It is not for me to fix their timetable."

Mr Blair added: "We have the inspectors report coming out on February 14 and I think we should take account of that very carefully."

A second resolution sanctioning war against Iraq will depend on the evidence of Mr Powell tomorrow and the inspectors' report.

As a permanent member of the Security Council, France holds a powerful veto against any new resolution.

Asked whether France would use its veto, M Chirac said: "I feel that war is always the worst possible solution. In that region above all others, we don't need any more wars. I feel that we need to wait.

"We have adopted a strategy of using inspectors. We need to have confidence in the inspectors - it is not everybody else [who thinks that] - and we need to give those inspectors the amount of time they need.

"France will assume its responsibilities as it seems fit at the appropriate time and in view of the circumstances at that time."